Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has described unity among the people of the Gulf as "the most beautiful dream" in an excerpt from his book "Letters" published on Monday, October 19.
In the passage, Sheikh Mohammed wrote: "We are the people of the Gulf. By the grace of Allah, we have all journeyed from humble towns to global metropolises," adding that geography, history and blood ties bind the region's people together and that no media platform could drive them apart.
"Social media calculations will not divide us," he wrote, stressing that such efforts "will never be able to erase centuries of neighbourly ties, alter the realities of geography or rewrite the facts of our shared ancestry."
The message comes as a response to recent social media campaigns seen as attempting to sow division among Gulf states. Sheikh Mohammed clarified in the letter that unity does not mean erasing the individual national character of each Gulf country, but rather strengthening collective bonds built on shared history, geography, family ties and economic interests.
He defined unity not as political union but as "bringing hearts together," comparing Gulf nations to rivers that keep their own identity while ultimately flowing into one shared ocean.
The letter was published in the same week that several prominent Emirati and Saudi cultural and artistic figures publicly urged Gulf nationals to set aside online disputes and social media feuds, part of a broader regional push to counter divisive narratives circulating on digital platforms.